Take Cover! Taro the Mothknight Approaches (P, NK)

Darkside was bustling with activity in the moments leading up to the invasion by Kurogane's forces. Having just been rebuilt following a recent scuffle between Ronin, many of its costumers enthusiastically returned for the grand reopening of the extravagant restaurant. Women dressed in elaborate costumes waited on patrons who eagerly ordered pancakes, waffles, and other similar foods. On one end of the building was even a bar, which at the time of the invasion had a fully seated counter despite the odd hour. Most were having a joyous time and the restaurant was loud with the bustle of conversation.

Seated at a window booth was a young raven haired girl dressed simply in a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back and tied in a ponytail. Bright blue eyes looked between others at the table, nervously smiling and engaging in small talk as she waited for her meal to arrive. Across from her was a much more distinct individual, an Ushitora woman with long black horns that grew from the side of her head. The young Oni women's hair was also eye catching, long and wavy white locks that cascaded past her shoulder blades. She wore a black outfit as well, many of the other patrons occasionally mistaking her as a member of the wait staff that was on break. Eventually the food came to the table and the two kunoichi quickly began to dig in, both enjoying their meals and only taking breaks to talk.

Suddenly the light from outside dimmed, and in confusion people looked toward the windows and noticed there seemed to be numerous shapes in the sky. The restaurant grew silent as people lingered for a bit at the windows, trying to make out the falling figures and wondering what exactly what was occurring. Almost as soon as they came the shapes seemed to disappear, leaving the patrons further bewildered. Hushed and frightened voices suddenly erupted within the silence, people starting to get out of their seats and look around in and attempt to discern what they should do. A few rushed toward the door, some asked about a basement, and others began wondering if the village was under attack or if Lady Tsukiko was preparing a grand display for one of the upcoming festivals. Confusion reigned in the restaurant as the black haired girl watched in fear, goosebumps rising up her neck as she realized something bad was about to happen.

It was only moments after their disappearance that the figures appeared again, once more suddenly and without warning. This time they appeared only a few dozen meters in the air, close enough for the people below to now make out the sound of their wings as they descended upon the populace. The creatures were roughly 4 feet tall, their features a mix of human and moths. Their proportions and limbs were similar to that of a humans but they had insect like heads and moth wings.

The black haired girl Hasumi watched in horror as she saw strange tiny moth men flying through the sky, creations of Kurogane that seemed to have been unleashed upon this part of the village. Hasumi hadn't seen many of the chimerafolk that the mad scientist had made during her time as a captive within Tengakure's Ruins but she was able to identify his handiwork on sight. The young Genin quickly got out of her seat and to her feet, realizing she had to take action before these invaders hurt anyone.

The white haired Ushitora, Hana, seemed less rushed by the events that unfolded before them. As her young charge rushed toward the door Hana nonchalantly got to her feet, stretching a bit as a smiled started to stretch across her feet. "Thank goodness, I was starting to get worried my sister had settled somewhere boring."

While Hasumi rushed to the door and tried to help direct the screaming mob that was now bottle necking at the exit her bodyguard decided to take a more direct approach. Turning to the wall Hana's broad smile turned to a smirk as she simply walked through the booth and wall. Wood and other materials fractured and splintered as the Oni moved unhindered through the table and wooden wall, debris flying out and toward the street as Hana spread her arms wide and took a welcoming pose.

"You guys came all this way just to die for my amusement? How sweet." The young woman cheerfully exclaimed as she looked up at the small mothmen, some of which had turned to take notice of the wild Oni woman that had just destroyed a wall. Hana glanced over the swarm of monsters above her as she contemplated what move she should open with, when the sound of thunder echoed throughout the village. A laugh escaped the lips of the white haired Oni girl as she realized one of her sisters was engaging in battle elsewhere. Deciding to perform the same move, Hana's laugh turned to a cackle as she started to glow with a blue light. A shroud of lightning enveloped the woman as she performed a high kick toward the swarm. A wave of lightning launched from her kick at 235 speed, forming a cone that quickly expanded to a gargantuan size that was 35 meters long and 20 meters in diameter. Most of the mothmen weren't able escape the devastating attack from the Blue Oni, some being instantly vaporized while others were left paralyzed and falling to the ground.

Unfortunately Hana's attack only dented the swarm, despite the number it had taken out. The tiny monster men continued to swarm the village, the assault force uninhibited by the Ushitora's first attack overall. The tiny winged monsters swooped down and started grabbing any citizen they could get a hold of, picking them up and carrying them up into the sky. Moving at 135 speed the youngest Ushitora sister charged through the street, striking down the mothmen with single blows that tore through their body. She did her best to save the civilians that were fleeing from Darkside but found herself unable to contend with the sheer number of them.

As the battle began to unfold outside Hasumi found herself still trying to calm those within the restaurant. "Let's try and find cover rather than run through the streets, find a basement if you can and see if you can all fit in there!"

She pointed toward one of the doors near the back, and thankfully a serving girl mentioned she knew where the basement was and began to lead people to it. The patrons of Darkside bottlenecked at a different door now as Hasu's bright blue eyes scanned around, doing her best to remain alert. Mothmen started to break through the windows and move toward the crowd, but Hasu did her best to stop them, performing the Monkey, Hare, Snake, and then Rat hand seals at 23 speed. The young kunoichi activated Stone Pistol and began to blast tiny rocks at the short monsters, leading her targets so that the 85 speed projectiles would hit them and knock them back. Her attack failed to kill any of the monsters but she seemed to injure them enough to retreat with each blow.

50 meters directly above the restaurant was a mothman that stood out from the others. His height was far greater than that of the smaller minions and he held a sword and shield in his hands. Taro scanned the area as the assault continued beneath him, searching for the black haired girl that had once been help captive within the ruins. He had orders to retrieve her and anyone else that seemed like they'd be a good candidate for Kurogane's experiments and bring them back through the portal. It wasn't the task Taro would have preferred but he was determined to carry it out. He longed to descend and engage in the battle below but decided to refrain for now.

WC:1,332

Running through the town to find her destination was a woman named Michiko who appeared relatively young, her green hair swaying in the wind as she ran the golden glint of her eyes shining in the rays of the sun as she rushed towards her destination. A calming view already present to her from outside the entrance of the restaurant that had been suggested to her the other day, “This is JUST LIKE I thought it would be to haven't been to a good place like this in ages!” she could hardly hold her excitement as she shook and entered the opening of the store. Inside was just as captivating, the smells were amazing and the sights weren’t bad either. As she saw the pastries and various delicacies she greeted the person at the counter, “Hi, I was wondering if I could try some things. I've heard this place is quite good!” the person at the counter would inform Michiko she would have to sit down at a table and order from the menu there.

Grabbing her seat at a nearby table she could barely contain herself as her legs swung back and forth under the table, “OOH, I think I’ll try this cake thing! It looks good, a good amount of strawberries as well.”she would talk to the waitress confirming her order before they headed back inside. From within she saw the lights beginning to dim from overhead as Michiko peaked over the side of the velvet booth she was currently in she saw the forms of winged creatures, “Is this normal for this part of town?” soon enough her question was answered as she saw the other patrons of the store starting to rush seemingly terrified but the thing that got her attention was a few voices she was hearing. The girl she had met the other day, Hana, seemed to be present as well as her bestie Hasu.

Getting up to try and meet up with them to figure out the next steps and what to do next Michiko was cut off from them as the crowds seemed to intensify. Michiko  tried to yell towards Hasu and Hana but was overwhelmed by the number of people as she got dragged into the crowd heading towards the front door. Various tables were turned over in the pushing of the crowd, she saw only one way out of the crowd as Michiko would attempt to jump the crowd. Pulling herself up she leaped, “Sorry about this!” she would jump above putting her momentum forward to reach a hole in the crowd. From the gap she saw Hana breaking a wall as an open gap was left in the side of the building. Still Michiko couldn’t really catch up as a large gust picked up as the creatures seemed to get closer now Michiko could for sure make out that they were some sort of moth-humanoids.

It wasn’t till a large boom sounded from outside that the guests became momentarily distracted that Michiko could finally catch up with Hasu, her breath labored from getting around the guests she would attempt to catch up till suddenly one of the windows close to her broke, she just barely got out of the way as glass started to fly inwards, the moth-humanoids zooming inwards. She was surprised as rocks started to fly, knocking the creatures back. Finally Michiko could catch up with Hasu, “YO Hasu need any help here?! Was just enjoying a treat but if there’s a fight I might as well do something!” she would begin to hop up and down readying her fists for any further creatures that might attempt to get close to the interior of the restaurant.

WC: 620

Hasu was relieved when she noticed Michiko run up to her, with Hana  having abandoned her to go fight outside the young Genin was worried about getting overwhelmed trying to save the patrons of Darkside. With the green haired woman by her side they had a chance of keeping the chimera folk at bay. "I'll try and cover the windows, but I don't really know to many techniques that will be helpful here. Try and take out the ones that get near the crowd and me if you think you can!"

Hasu spoke hastily, her blue eyes not lingering on her friend but instead wide and fearfully searching around the building for more of the foes swarming the village. As much as Hasu wanted to remain close to Michiko she knew they'd have to remain mobile to protect the bottlenecked crowd as they swarmed the basement. The young girl steeled herself and continued to maintain her technique. As the next mothman flew into the establishment Hasu unleashed another rock, exhaling sharply and forming another projectile that shot forward toward her foe. This time her rock landed square between the eyes of her target and knocked him to the ground, stunning him. Hasu managed to fire off a few more of her rock projectiles but unfortunately she wasn't very skilled with this technique, and found herself unable to maintain it.

Not wanting to get overwhelmed Hasu scoured her memory for another technique to use, unsure if she had anything in her arsenal that would be of help. She knew a few water techniques but their area of effect was to large to be of help in their current predicament. A few mothmen managed to to slip through the windows as Hasu desperately contemplated her next move, wishing she'd at least taken her Tanto with her. It wsn'y until a whole swarm of mothmen began to move toward the hole in the wall Hana had created that an idea came to Hasu, a technique she hadn't practiced herself. Some of her creator's memories flooded her mind as she began to form the dragon, tiger, and then monkey seals. Thankfully she had a clear shot to the hole, the crowd at her back as she activated another technique that she had to expel from her mouth. Scorching hot venom fired forth and toward the hole, slamming into the mothmen swarming through it at a speed of 70. Mothmen caught in the half a meter wide blast screamed as they were suddenly burned and blinded, many flying off in random directions or falling to the ground.

Hasu wished she could celebrate the small victory, but she was still running out of options. she hoped Michiko or Hana had something up their sleeve that could help turn the tide, as so far it seemed this section of the village was being overwhelmed.

Meanwhile Hana was running around the perimeter of Darkside, doing her best to save fleeing citizens from being carried off into the sky by the swarm that seemed to plague the entire district around the restaurant. The young Oni woman was getting frustrated, even though she was able to kill a mothman with each blow their numbers only seemed to grow. She wished she could unleash more of her techniques but with all of civilians running around she was worried about harming them. Grabbing two mothmen at once the lightning clad woman crushed their skulls together and then tossed them at their descending comrades, knocking two more out of the sky as she continued to rush around the building.

Taro, The Moth Knight, decided to make his move as he watched the white haired Oni kill his subordinates. Deciding that he'd find the girl he'd been sent for after dealing with this threat, the Moth Knight teleported behind the Blue Oni and rushed in to behead her with a powerful swing. Unfortunately he had not used any sort of amplification or enhancement, and was shocked as his blade slammed into the woman's neck as though it was a steel wall. The lightning covered woman immediately stopped and turned around, now aware of his presence, and went to strike him. While she was fast, Taro was faster, and he found himself able to dodge the woman's blows as she turned all of her attention onto him. Realizing she was only using basic attacks, and was likely about to resort to some form of technique, the Moth Knight employed one of his less honorable techniques. His wings glistened as he channeled chakra into them, putting Hana into a genjutsu that made her think her opponent went right when he actually went left.

The move proved useful, as it allowed Taro to flank the woman as she unleashed a move onto his illusion, her limbs suddenly shrouded in fire as she slammed into nothing. Tora did his best to take advantage of the diversion, going in to stab the woman in the back, but once again his blow was deflected by the woman's skin. The Mothknight was baffled, it seemed his sword couldn't pierce the woman's flesh somehow. He wondered if it was a product of training or if perhaps the woman's horns weren't the only thing about her that wasn't human. He didn't have long to ponder that thought, as he was quickly forced to retreat as the woman spun around and tried to strike him with a flame covered leg. As he increased the distance he pondered using another illusion, unsure if he wanted to continue to go toe to toe with this horned humanoid that was now almost entirely covered in lightning and fire.

"To scared to fight me using just your martial prowess? Can't say I blame ya, I'd be afraid of me too." Hana chuckled, stopping her quick advance and instead casually walking toward the Moth Knight before her as she glowed with red and blue plasma. She'd completely forgotten about her task to guard Hasumi, just as the Mothman had forgotten his to retrieve her. The small mothmen had quickly realized it best to give the two space rather than interfere, most continuing to grab civilians and fly off with them while a few stopped and watched the battle unfolding outside Darkside.

WC:1,042
TWC:2,374